“I Don’t Have Much Money, but I Have a Lot of Friends”: How Poor Older Latinxs Find Social Support in Peer Friendship Networks

Abstract

Abstract Even though older Latinxs face some of the greatest economic precarity of any demographic group in the nation, little research has focused on this group and how they survive, despite having limited economic means and access to government support. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research in an urban, Latinx community on the East Coast and on 72 in-depth interviews, this study addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on the role of peer friendship networks in the lives of low-income, foreign-born Latinx older adults. I show that peer friendships have the unique ability to prioritize and affirm their identities as Latinxs and older adults and provide returns in the form of medical, economic, and emotional support. Peers often facilitate transportation to medical appointments, provide critical information about medicines and health insurance, and try to uplift one another emotionally, especially when family support is lacking. Understanding the role these networks play in the lives of our most vulnerable has implications for our understanding of aging, poverty, and policy.